LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — As Sutter Lakeside Hospital’s Birth Center remains closed due to lack of a dedicated physician, officials with the county, other hospitals and the nurses union have offered additional details on the situation.
Sutter Lakeside closed its birth center on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. due to having no available obstetrician to deliver babies, as Lake County News has reported.
At that point, the hospital went on “diversion” and began directing expectant mothers to other hospitals around the region.
The hospital said it anticipates resolving the situation to be resolved by 7 a.m. Wednesday, July 27, and that it is “actively working with community resources to help patients access appropriate care and to facilitate transfers to other hospitals as necessary.”
The California Nurses Association — whose members are in ongoing negotiations with Sutter Health and conducted an informational picket earlier this year over issues including safety and staffing — weighed in on the situation, calling on Sutter “to immediately provide the community with a comprehensive plan to ensure safe, stable and consistent obstetric services.”
The union accused Sutter Health of putting profits over patients, noting, “Sutter management has relied on just two obstetric providers, throughout two years of pandemic instability, despite repeated warnings from Registered Nurses and providers.”
The closure of the Sutter Lakeside Birth Center left only one place to deliver in Lake County — Adventist Health Clear Lake.
“We are prepared and ready to accept birthing mothers who are being diverted,” Kim Lewis, spokesperson for Adventist Health Clear Lake, told Lake County News on Thursday.
Lewis said Sutter had reached out to Adventist regarding its action, “and we are working closely with them and have a plan in place.”
In addition to Adventist Health Clear Lake, Sutter Lakeside is reportedly directing patients to Kaiser Santa Rosa, Queen of the Valley in Napa and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
On Thursday, Adventist Health Ukiah Valley contacted Lake County News to report that it also is welcoming birth center patients that are being diverted from Sutter Lakeside.
County officials reported on Thursday that they also are working with Sutter Lakeside to address the matter.
“County of Lake Health Services was made aware of this before its occurrence and has been supporting Sutter Lakeside where possible,” Dwight Coddington, spokesman for the Lake County Health Services Department, told Lake County News in a Thursday email.
Coddington said that if a patient does require an obstetrician they will be referred to Sutter in Santa Rosa, and that other providers — such as Adventist Hospital and the regional hospitals where patients are being referred — aren’t being impacted due to Sutter Lakeside’s obstetrics bypass.
The California Nurses Association told Lake County News that it is “deeply concerned for the patients and families of Lake County as well as adjacent Napa and Mendocino counties with the alarming news that Sutter Lakeside Hospital has failed to secure stable obstetric services resulting in temporary closure or ‘diversion’ of its perinatal services.”
Noting that the rural hospital provides vital health care services, including perinatal services to Lake, Napa and Mendocino County families, the union said, “This temporary closure or ‘diversion’ adds significant time and travel to a journey that can and often does cause significant risk to the well-being of the expectant mother and baby.”
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County, union and hospital officials respond to Sutter Lakeside Birth Center’s temporary closure
- Elizabeth Larson
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